she left a sketchbook
by Raye of the Sunshine
Summary: RokuNami. Namine left a sketchbook. Axel took it. Roxas wanted it. The mysteries she left in her drawings compelled him to seek her out.


Hello everyone. It's been a long time since I've uploaded anything here. I hope you enjoy this.

Disclaimer: Rats, foiled again! Kairi still hasn't been guaranteed a party member, so I don't own Kingdom Hearts.

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"What did you do in Castle Oblivion?" Roxas asked rather suddenly one day as he and Axel hung out in the latter's room.

"Stuff," the redhead answered vaguely. Then he grinned and Roxas became suspicious. "I met a girl. She's about your age and she's special just like you."

"Shove off, you're totally lying."

"Oh, ouch," Axel cried dramatically. "But I'm serious. She was such a fragile little thing. No idea where she is now."

"You're making her up. It's easy to lie and then say someone disappeared."

Axel leaned over the side of his bed and batted Roxas's head. "Her name is Naminé, pipsqueak, and if you think I'm lying ask Saïx or the Superior about her."

Roxas swatted his hand away and leaned against the side of the bed. "No thanks. Saïx would just scoff at me if I asked." Although for some reason, when he heard her name he felt warmth inside. "Did you _really_ meet such a girl? Why was she at Castle Oblivion?"

"I'm telling you, I did. As for why she was there, she was born there. We found her there anyway." Axel stuck his hand into the crack between the bed and the wall and moved around. "Here it is," he proclaimed, pulling out a thick sketchbook. "I found this and I kept it. Naminé was hiding her talent from us."

Roxas took the notebook and propped it onto his knees. He flipped it open and he couldn't hide his surprise. Quickly he looked at the other pages. "Nearly all of these are portraits," he commented. There were a few scenes but most were only of singular people.

"Yep. Wonder how she knew what you looked like," Axel said, nodding to the very first portrait. "If anything, I thought she'd draw Sora first."

"Sora?" That name again.

"A kid that's way too much trouble."

Roxas wanted to know more but he could tell Axel had no desire to continue. Instead he took greater care in looking through the pictures this mysterious girl left behind. He had no idea who some of the people were, but he recognized a couple. "Zexion?"

Axel nodded, looking over Roxas's shoulder. "It seemed that they liked each other. Zexion hardly ever left the basement, but he did see Naminé a couple of times."

"They were friends?" Zexion had always seemed so standoffish that Roxas couldn't comprehend him ever having a friend.

"I guess so. Marluxia definitely didn't like Zexion interacting with her."

The blond nodded absently, flipping the pages again. "This place… it's familiar." He traced the gates in the drawing, wondering how he knew it.

"You were born there," Axel told him. "The Superior found you there."

"How did she know? Did she ever leave Castle Oblivion?"

"Nope. But she had memory powers; it's possible she just looked through yours."

"But I've never met her," Roxas frowned.

"I don't know how the little bird worked, okay?" But Roxas could tell Axel knew something. Again, he frowned; why was Axel hiding something from him?

He shook his head and continued to flip the pages. The last illustration was another portrait, the rest of the book empty. "Naminé," he said without thinking, instinctively knowing the blonde subject was the mysterious artist.

"Yeah, how'd you know? There isn't a name."

"I don't know. I just did." Too bad Axel had no idea where she was. He wanted to meet her. "Can I keep this?"

"Why do you want it? I don't really see why I should give it to you especially when _I'm_ the one who found it."

"I _want_ it," Roxas whined. He didn't want Axel to know why. Somehow he felt that the people and places were important. Maybe if he stared long enough, a way to find her would appear.

"Fine, fine, don't whine at me," Axel relented. "Keep it if you want it so bad."

Roxas shut it and held it close, thinking. "What was she like?"

His best friend eyed him, not quite suspiciously. He took a moment, but he spoke, "She was about your height, but she was smaller than you, which is saying something." Axel ignored Roxas's noise of protest. "Naminé was quiet, mostly, and it wasn't just because she was terrified of her keepers. Marluxia and Larxene were scary for her, I will admit, but I think she was just naturally quiet. But I did see her smile. Like I said, she was a fragile little thing."

Roxas felt yet another mission form in his mind. Not only did he need to meet Sora, he needed to find Naminé. He needed to know how she knew what he looked like and where he was born. Maybe she knew more. "Is she a Nobody?"

"Not really. She's a special one. She's the equivalent of a Nobody for a Princess of Heart. Naminé's nearly always felt like light; sometimes I spotted her radiating it."

"Oh." Then he would know if he found her. Nobodies always gave off a certain feeling, as did other beings, and if she always felt like light… then he'd know. He wondered how she was born. Princesses of Heart could not be overwhelmed in the darkness of their hearts like normal people, because they didn't have any.

Roxas got to his feet and bid Axel farewell, heading to his room. Once there he flipped open the sketchbook again. Her drawing of him was perfect in every way, as if she had merely turned a photograph into an illustration. But they had never met, and Axel probably hadn't showed her any photos of him. That would be one of the things he asked her, when he found her.

What had Axel meant when he said she had hidden her talent? Why would she hide it? He had so many questions about her, and she left behind no clues. The only thing he could say for certain about her was that he knew what she looked like. Roxas couldn't explain how he knew upon first glance that the blonde girl in the drawing was her; he just _knew_. Had his Somebody and hers known each other? He groaned. Yet another question involving her that he didn't know the answer to.

Roxas spent weeks thinking on and off about the girl and her notebook. Often he'd open it and stare at all of the things she had drawn; a brunet with a giant grin, a red-haired girl, a hallway in Castle Oblivion, a boy with silver hair… The gates to a mansion in Twilight Town, various members of the Organization, an island—she had a lot of talent, he thought. He couldn't help but wonder where she was. How could she have disappeared? The Organization kept careful track of its members, and since she was something like a Nobody, surely she was one of them. Except he couldn't ask anyone about her; he didn't want anyone to become suspicious of him for any reason. If she had disappeared, likely the Organization wanted her to stay that way.

He came to the decision to start exploring the places she had drawn, starting with the first one—a hallway in Castle Oblivion. Since the castle was enormous, he spent quite a few days roaming the halls, looking for any sign of being recently lived in or another clue from her. The only thing he found was why Axel had said she'd hidden her talent. There was a room in the castle that had drawings in it, and another notebook. None of them were like the one hidden in his room; they were childish scribbles, as if she was going for quantity over quality. But why not work as hard on these as she had in the hidden sketchbook? "One more question," he groaned. Hopefully Naminé would be willing to answer him.

Thankfully the girl hadn't drawn very many locations, as it'd taken long enough to search Castle Oblivion. The next place was a beach. The only clue as to where it was located was a tree with star-shaped fruit. Axel had taken him there on a mission once: Destiny Islands. Had she met someone with memories of there? How? Axel said she'd never left the castle. When Roxas arrived, he knew almost immediately she wasn't there. All of the people on the island felt like people, and the smaller island hadn't seen a soul for a while. There was one bright spark of light, but when he followed the source there wasn't a blonde girl in sight. Instead he only saw a redhead, a young woman about the same age as he was, with her eyes trained on the sea. Roxas wondered what she was looking for, because there wasn't anything out in the water. He was too disappointed to find out what she was up to, or even why she felt so light like he thought Naminé might be, so he turned around and headed back.

Roxas traveled from world to world, growing increasingly frustrated. She really _had_ disappeared. What if she was dead? No, no she couldn't be. He needed to believe she was alive somewhere; she knew things he needed to know. Of course, there was no guarantee that she would tell him anything. But he couldn't believe that either. There was no way he spent so much time looking for her just to be told she wouldn't explain anything to him.

By the time he reached the last image of a location, he was almost out of hope. Roxas stood at the gates to the mansion, which were locked, staring up and wondering where to go from here. The clock tower was familiar to him, as he and Axel had hung around there a few times, but she hadn't drawn the clock tower. "Might as well," he sighed, and leapt over the gates into the ruined courtyard. He'd start by exploring the mansion and if that proved fruitless he'd go into town.

He roamed the rooms and even entered a couple of towers, but he still couldn't find anyone. Roxas was just about to give up when he spotted a lonely hallway, one he hadn't noticed before. He headed down it to the sole door at the end, slowly pushing it open.

White. Peace. The first things he noticed inside the room. Carefully he stepped inside, the room giving the impression that he needed to be as quiet as possible. The door clicked shut behind him and he looked around, wondering if anyone was inside. His attention was distracted, however, by the doodles on the walls. Roxas walked forward, skirting the table and inspecting the pictures. There was a mixture of places and people, and he vaguely recognized a couple from the sketchbook he carried with him. Had they really been drawn by the same artist?

He walked around the room at a sedate pace, looking at the various pictures on the floor and the table. Once he reached the other end, he nearly fell over in shock. There _was_ another person in the room after all. "Naminé!" he breathed in surprise as the girl looked up at him. She nearly blended in with the rest of the room, what with how pale she was and the white she wore.

"Roxas," she greeted, putting down a crayon. "I didn't expect you to come to me."

"I've been looking all over for you," he said, dragging a chair next to her. He'd finally found her! He had so many questions he didn't know where to begin. After a few seconds of staring at her dumbfounded, she started to fidget, breaking his trance. "I have things to ask you."

"It seems like everyone comes to me for answers." But her voice and her smile were not reproachful. "What would you like to know?"

Hesitantly, as he was very attached to it, he pulled out the sketchbook he'd taken to carrying around with him. "Why… why did you draw me, when you'd never met me?" he asked, opening it to the first page.

Her eyes widened and she gingerly took hold of the book. "You found it," she whispered. "I thought… I thought I'd hidden it…"

"Axel found it," he corrected. "He let me have it when I asked for it."

She nodded, turning the pages with care. "I drew you first, Roxas… because you were the first person who came to my mind." Naminé turned the pages back to his picture. "I found this sketchbook somewhere in Castle Oblivion. And you… you simply appeared in my head. So I drew you."

"But _why_?" he asked, confused. "Why would you know what I look like? I've never met you before. And for that matter, why did I know what _you_ look like when I saw your picture?"

Naminé gave a little sigh. "You and I… we are connected Roxas. On a deep level, I think."

"I don't know what you mean," he said, still confused. "How did we connect?"

She looked distressed and he felt guilty. "I don't know," she said. "I'm sorry."

He let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. "It's okay. I just really want to know some things."

"What else do you want to know?" She tilted her head expectantly.

"Before you left Castle Oblivion, you didn't go anywhere, right? How did you know what all these other places and people look like?"

Naminé was quiet for a while, as if she was deciding what to say. "I was born with a very unique ability, Roxas," she said, looking directly at him. "I have the power over memories. The Organization and DiZ believe that it's only over Sora and those connected to him…" But she didn't finish, and he got the vague feeling that she didn't know the extent of her own powers. That or she didn't want him to know.

"Who is Sora?" he asked next. "Everywhere I go, he's brought up."

"He is the hero," she answered, and he felt the slightest bit jealous. She said it full of admiration, and she looked past him like she could see the mysterious Sora standing there. "He is more important than anyone. He is the key."

 _The key._ Roxas looked startled, as if the phrase jarred him. "I'm the key," he whispered, staring at the table.

"The Key of Destiny. I know."

"Am… am I connected to Sora?"

"Yes," she replied simply. "I am too." Her face looked sad and Roxas found he didn't like that very much.

"I'm sorry. I'm bothering you," he apologized, getting back to his feet.

"No, Roxas, please don't go." Her hand grabbed his gloved one, stopping him from leaving. "I wanted to meet you, at least once."

He sat back down, still holding her hand. "Why?" When had anyone ever wanted to meet him?

"Because… because… because you were first…" She looked back to the notebook, and he was reminded that he was the first thing she had drawn in there.

"I… I've wanted to meet you too…" he admitted softly. "I knew I needed to meet you when Axel showed me your notebook."

She smiled and blushed, and he felt a brush of light against his gloved hand. He pulled his hand away, taking the gloves off and holding her hand again. Her smile brightened. "How long can you stay?" she asked.

"Not much longer. I spent a lot of time exploring here. But I'll return when I can," he promised as he noticed her expression fall.

"I see. Well, Roxas, what else can I answer for you today?" She seemed so eager to answer his questions, like she wanted to let someone else know what she knew.

He thought about it, sorting through all the things he wanted to know. At last, he chose one. "Why do you hide your talent Naminé? I think besides the two of us, only Axel knows how good you really are."

A truly unhappy expression came to her face. "Because these drawings are not worth my time," she told him. "They give me no pleasure."

"Then, why do you draw them?" He felt confused. Surely she had a choice in the matter?

"If I don't, one person or another will kill me." She pulled her hand away and picked up the sketchbook she'd been drawing in when he came in. "I like to draw, but they won't get my full effort… I missed my other one." The one he'd brought with him.

"You can have it back," he said suddenly. "To draw more pictures in." Roxas didn't really want to part with it, but she could add more to it, and he wasn't going to do anything with it anyway. It might as well be with its original owner.

"Thank you, Roxas," she whispered, placing her hands onto his again.

At that moment, he looked fully into her eyes. They were a blue that nearly matched his; almost like pools of deep water. "I should go," he said softly, still staring at her eyes. "I'll come again soon, Naminé." He stood up, slipping his gloves back on and giving her a promising smile.

"See you soon," she said by way of goodbye, and he left through the door, thinking that poisoning the room with a darkness corridor would ruin it.

Roxas visited as often as he could, which really wasn't very often at all. He saw her exactly three more times before he left the Organization. She would never tell him why she was drawing or who she was drawing for, and he never saw anyone else in the mansion, but he felt they had become friends anyway. He thought she was nice and while secretive, she was honest about the things she felt she could speak of, which he found to be a refreshing change of pace after spending so much time with the Organization.

When he lost his fight to Riku, he was vaguely confused as he was brought to the mansion. Why did Riku bring him here, he wondered. Had he known that Naminé was here? Before he asked, he was knocked out, and sent to the virtual Twilight Town. Roxas never saw Naminé come to the basement and look at him sadly. He never saw her get punished when she revealed that she had hidden her interactions with him. He only woke up the next morning and ran to meet his friends.

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Whew! Now that you've made it down here, let me just say a little thing about this. I love, I _love_ canon-universe RokuNami fics. There aren't enough of them. Most all of what I write for this beautiful pairing is canon universe. There are tweaks here and there, but this is not a coffee shop AU (not to knock on those, of course, I like reading those too).

Since this is my first completed _anything_ in a while, please consider dropping me a review over things that could be improved or expanded. Or, tell me what I did right. It's all up to you. Thank you.

 _Raye_


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